For two months Utah had one of the lowest rates of spread of the virus. Then Utah started to open up. On the 24th May Mormons went back to church, albeit in groups of less than 100. Almost perfectly on cue, COVID cases started to spike about 5 days later, the mean incubation time for the virus. The growth in cases is now alarming.
Itโs unlikely the spike is only the result of Mormons going back to church, since society was starting to leave lockdown around that time, but I have heard reports of wards where there have been clusters. Many Mormons are also full on Trump supporters and are likely to be dismissive of social distancing rules like their president.
On the 17th June Elder Bednar, an apostle and one of the most senior leaders of the Mormon Church, spoke at a law conference on religious freedom via a web link. His talk was reported in the Deseret News and on the LDS website. These are some of Bednar's comments that were quoted in the news reports.
Bednar even drew the false equivalence between restricting religious freedom and allowing people to purchase gas. People need gas to buy essential items to sustain life. They donโt need to gather in large numbers in churches to keep them alive!โโฆ๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ช๐ก ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฃ๐ค๐ฉ ๐๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ง๐๐ฃ๐, ๐จ๐ค๐ค๐ฃ๐๐ง ๐ค๐ง ๐ก๐๐ฉ๐๐ง ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐๐ก๐ก ๐๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐จ๐๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐๐งโ.
โ๐๐๐ ๐ฅ๐ค๐ฌ๐๐ง ๐ค๐ ๐๐ค๐ซ๐๐ง๐ฃ๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐ข๐ช๐จ๐ฉ ๐๐๐ซ๐ ๐ก๐๐ข๐๐ฉ๐จ,โ
โ๐๐๐๐จ ๐ฉ๐๐ข๐ ๐ค๐ ๐ง๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ง๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐๐๐จ ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐๐๐ง๐ข๐๐ ๐๐ค๐ง ๐ข๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฉ ๐ฃ๐ค ๐๐ง๐๐๐๐ค๐ข ๐๐จ ๐ข๐ค๐ง๐ ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ค๐ง๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฃ ๐ง๐๐ก๐๐๐๐ค๐ช๐จ ๐๐ง๐๐๐๐ค๐ข,โ
โ๐๐๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐จ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ง ๐ง๐๐ก๐๐๐๐ค๐ช๐จ ๐ค๐ง๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ฏ๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐จ ๐ข๐ช๐จ๐ฉ ๐๐ ๐๐ค๐ค๐ ๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ฏ๐๐ฃ๐จ ๐๐ฃ ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ข๐ ๐ค๐ ๐๐ง๐๐จ๐๐จ, ๐ฃ๐๐ซ๐๐ง ๐๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐๐ฃ ๐ฌ๐ ๐๐ก๐ก๐ค๐ฌ ๐๐ค๐ซ๐๐ง๐ฃ๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐ค๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ก๐จ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐ฉ๐ง๐๐๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐ญ๐๐ง๐๐๐จ๐ ๐ค๐ ๐ง๐๐ก๐๐๐๐ค๐ฃ ๐๐จ ๐จ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ก๐ฎ ๐ฃ๐ค๐ฃ๐๐จ๐จ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐๐ก.โ
For a state struggling with a significant spike in COVID cases, calling for less restrictions on gatherings is a thoughtless and poorly-timed message, given he leads the dominant religious group in Utah. Church gatherings are notorious for spreading the virus. Bednarโs comments are dangerous and ill advised and yet the LDS Church widely publicised them on its website and in the major Utah newspaper read by Mormons.
Bednar is forgetting that half the church does not live in the United States. They couldn't care less about the second amendment and the US constitution right now. The only thing most non-Americans know about the US constitution is that it is used to protect the right of Americans to buy semi-automatic weapons so they can shoot their countrymen more efficiently. That is the extent of it.
Many non-US members of the church live in countries with universal health care and strong social safety nets. These countries have far higher levels of trust in their governments, their scientific and health institutions and have for the most part been pretty content to accept that in these exceptional circumstances they need to do what the government has asked of them.
And the benefits of following our non-US government's COVID rules are plain to see. The number of new cases a day in all of Europe now numbers around 4,000 and is falling. In all of Asia, Australia and New Zealand it is far, far less. Australia gets concerned when we have more than 20 cases a day. The US is now approaching 30,000 new cases per day! [The US just topped 36,000 new cases]
It's not hard to imagine how non-US Mormons might feel reading Bednar complaining about government overreach. All I am hearing from my Australian Mormon relatives is praise for the wisdom of our government. There will be many non-US Mormons who will be very confused, if not alarmed, by Bednarโs obsession with individuals liberties and government interference at a time like this.
Bednar's comments will also be misconstrued by large numbers of American Mormons who hang off every word he says. Many will be inclined to feel more cynical about government health regulations and more inclined to flout social distancing rules.
It was a serious error of judgment for the church to publicise Bednarโs comments on the church's website. These views are completely Amerocentric and send a poor message at a critical time in the progress of the pandemic. If a senior religious leader in Australia published such an irresponsible article at a time like this they would risk being censored or even arrested.
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